Veni, Vidi, Vici
by buttbucks
Summary: Trying to survive in the wastes can make you do terrible things. No one is innocent, not even Kathleen Draper, the Lone Wanderer of the Capital Wasteland. Despite the nickname, she won't be alone. With the help of her ghoul bodyguard, and a few friends, she might just make it out of this with her sanity intact. (Updates on Wednesdays, Central Time)
1. Chapter 1

Veni, Vidi, Vici.

 _I came, I saw, I conquered._

Charon stared out over the room, his hazy blue eyes scanning the faces for anyone unfamiliar. Everyone in the bar were regulars, so he knew the only thing he would have to do would be to kick out drunks, or anyone unable to pay their tabs. He allowed himself to let his guard down for a moment and leaned back against the wall, tilting his head up and staring at the ceiling, giving himself a little break from the unending sea of mutilated faces.

The main door swung open, and he snapped back to attention, staring in surprise at the young smoothskin that walked through the door. All the other heads in the bar turned too. Some muttered in anger, others shrugged their shoulders and turned their attention back to their drinks.

The young woman wore a blue Vault suit with pieces of leather armor buckled over the fabric, and her curly brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her skin was a medium brown, with a very light, almost unnoticeable sunburn on her forearms and face, and freckles were scattered on her cheeks and across her nose. Her dark green eyes scanned the room and fell on Charon. He fought back the urge to sigh in frustration as the woman made her way across the tile floor. He realized when she stopped in front of him that she was surprisingly short, and barely reached his shoulders. She had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze as she spoke.

"Hi, I was wondering who the owner is?"

"Ahzrukhal."

"Him?" She turned to look at the ghoul standing behind the bar, and Charon nodded. She turned and left, and sat down at the bar. She and Ahzrukhal spoke in hushed voices, then she turned to look at Charon, her eyes narrowed. She turned back around and nodded. The girl rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a medium sized brown bag. She set it down on the counter and counted out a few caps, then handed him the entire thing.

Ahzrukhal grinned that big, toothy grin that Charon had grown to hate so much, and handed the woman a piece of paper. Charon's heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. That paper was his lifeline, his heart and soul; his contract. He couldn't imagine Ahzrukhal giving it to anyone else, but he _could_ see it being sold for a large amount of caps.

The ghoul put the bag under the counter and said something else, and gestured to Charon. Kathleen nodded, and shook his hand. Charon noticed the way she wiped her palm on her pants as she walked away. When she stopped in front of him he was at a loss for words, and immediately defaulted to his usual greeting.

"Talk to Ahzru-"

"Wait, wait, wait. I…I bought your contract. You don't belong to him anymore." She said it like she did him a favor, and maybe that was true. Ahzrukhal was a terrible man, who often made him do terrible things. What would make this girl any better? With his bad luck she was from one of the crazy experiment Vaults, and was mentally unstable. He had met a few of those in his long, long life.

"You purchased my contract from Ahzrukhal? So I am no longer in his service. That is good to know. Please, wait here. I have to take care of something." The girl nodded, obviously unsure of what the ghoul was going to do.

Everything seemed to move slower as he walked up to Ahzrukhal and took his gun from his back. He relished the look of fear in the ghoul's eyes; the same fear he had seen in many pairs of eyes before. A look that said 'This is the end'. He had seen it in the eyes of men, women, and even children, but he had never been so pleased to see it as he was now.

The ghoul moved as though to run, but Charon's bullets reached him first. The initial shot took the ghoul off his feet, and he slammed against the back wall. The second shot obliterated his face, and the body slid to the floor. The third shot was to take out the rest of his rage on the corpse, and though he knew it would never make up for the things he had done, it did put a smile on his face.

He turned back to his new employer to find her with her hands over her mouth, tears sliding down her cheeks and between her fingers.

"Oh my god. Why...why did you do that?"

"Ahzrukhal was an evil bastard. So long as he held my contract, I was honor bound to do as he commanded. But now you are my employer, which freed me to rid the world of that disgusting rat." Her eyes flitted from Charon, to the body, to Charon's shotgun, and back.

"Will…you do that to me?"

"For now, for good or ill, I serve you." He grumbled. The girl nodded, and swallowed hard, struggling to take her eyes off of Ahzrukhal's body. Finally, she looked up at the ghoul and sighed.

"Alright, let's get out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

_Our character isn't defined by the battles we win or lose, but by the battles we dare to fight._

 **Robert Beatty**

 _What have I gotten myself into now?_ Kathleen thought as she walked out of Underworld, the threateningly tall ghoul trailing behind her. She couldn't get the image of him shooting Ahzrukhal over and over out of her head. Had she just hired some kind of monster? She had killed a couple people, of course, but she had seen the look on his face when he turned to her. He enjoyed every second of it.

She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind so she could focus on her dad. Kathleen had already set up the dish on the Washington Memorial, and reported to Three-Dog. She had gone back to Underworld to stock up on supplies, and before she had gone to the 9th Circle she had spent some time with Carol and Greta. They were ecstatic when they found out that she knew Gob. When they asked how he was and where he worked, she had ended up telling them the truth. She couldn't lie to the woman that had pretty much raised Gob, even though it had definitely broken both of their hearts. They still appreciated the truth; Carol had even hugged Kathleen tight, and made her promise to return.

Now Kathleen was headed to Rivet City. She had informed Charon on the details about her journey to find her father, even though it seemed like he wasn't really listening, or maybe he was and he was just really good at hiding it. She didn't know.

When they finally reached the city Kathleen was taken aback. She stared up at the huge ship with wide eyes and a grin on her face.

"Holy shit, it's a giant ship! I've read about those!" She turned to Charon, who just nodded and scanned the horizon. Kathleen sighed, and quickly made a mental decision: If the ghoul didn't want to even be friendly with her, then _she_ wouldn't try, either.

They walked up the steps and stopped at the end of the platform. Kathleen peered across at the man on the other side, and when she noticed him looking at her too she shrugged at him. The man pointed near him, then at her. She raised an eyebrow, and looked down at the white box fixed to the railing of the platform. She bent over and pressed the little black button.

"Umm… I'd like to… board the ship, I guess?" She grimaced and looked back at Charon. The ghoul seemed too busy checking the horizon to pay attention to her.

" _Extending the bridge now_."

It took a minute for the metal bridge to finally click into place, but when it did Kathleen hurried across. She quickly explained herself to the guard, and told him about Madison Li. He pointed her in the right direction and eyed Charon as the ghoul passed him.

Kathleen talked excitedly as she went through the bowels of the ship. Her heart raced as she thought about seeing her dad again, and of all the questions she'd finally get to ask him. Where were they from? Did she have grandparents? How did they get in the Vault? Was everything she knew about her mom, and about him, a lie? How did it feel to abandon your only daughter in an underground bunker?

The two stepped into the Science Lab, and the smile on her face vanished when she saw no sign of her father. Insecurely, she rubbed her arms and headed down the steps. She paused at the bottom when she saw a young woman in a lab coat confront an older man leaned against the wall.

"Look, Doctor Zimmer, we've been over this. We don't know about your runaway robot, and we don't care. This lab is dedicated to solving real problems."

"Yes, yes, yes, but Doctor Li-"

"Doctor Li is trying to save lives, and your constant interruptions are interfering with those efforts. Now please, stand aside!"

"I'm sure the good doctor's work with water purification is fascinating, but if you only knew what is at stake. The technology within that android-." The woman's eyes widened, and she shoved her finger in Zimmer's face. The man behind him stepped forward as if to get involved, but Zimmer waved him off.

"What's at stake? You won't tell _me_ what's at stake! Vagaries and secrecy! A robot's a robot Doctor Zimmer, no matter how shiny the paint job. Now please…"

"Ignorance and facetiousness! That's all you people are good for. Shiny paint job, indeed. You can't even imagine the Commonwealth's accomplishments."

"You know, if you're so smart, maybe you could help _us_ Hmm? But no, that never even crossed your mind. Go peddle your selfishness elsewhere."

"Fine! But I'm not leaving this ship until I've spoken to Doctor Li." The young woman threw her hands up and stomped off. The old man eyed Kathleen, then pushed past her up the steps.

"What an ass." She muttered, and looked back at Charon to see him nod. Finally, they agreed on something.

She stepped past the other scientist and walked up to Doctor Li. The doctor turned around and let out a sigh.

"Look, this is a restricted area. I'm tired of telling you people…" She stopped, and her eyes grew wide," I…It's you. My heavens, you look so much like her. You're James and Catherine's daughter, aren't you? What are you doing here?"

,"Y-you know me? How?" Kathleen stumbled over her words, taken aback by the mention of her mother.

" You were too young to remember,' She said, then sighed, " and I assume your father never spoke of me. Typical. I am Doctor Madison Li. I worked with your parents many years ago. Now I work here. When your father left this was all I had. He abandoned his work so the rest of us had to do the same."

"I'm actually looking for my father. Have you seen him?" Her head was spinning. This was the most information she had ever gotten about her parents and their lives, and she was having trouble processing it.

"You mean you haven't? I assumed he sent you here. For that matter aren't you supposed to be in a Vault? James told me he left you there."

"They all turned on me after he escaped. I couldn't stay."

"I…I'm sorry, but he's been gone for a few days. He insisted that we return to work on Project Purity. I tried telling him too much time has passed, there's no way it could work." The woman waved her hands about as she talked," Of course, you know how stubborn that man can be. He refused to listen and said he was going to head up to our old lab and prove to me that it can still work."

"Where's the old lab?"

"In the Jefferson Memorial building," Kathleen nodded and turned to leave, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her," Listen, don't go up there. It was foolish of your father to even think about going up there alone."

"I'm not alone, besides, I need to find him. Thank you, Doctor." Li let her hand fall and nodded. Kathleen and Charon left the room, and Kathleen had to stop and sit on the ground, pressing her back against the cool metal door, giving herself a minute to think, "I'm always so close. What if I get to the Memorial and he isn't there either? What will I do?"

"Do you want to find him?" Charon asked, and she was surprised by the question.

"Of course."

"Then you keep going. If you want to find him than you keep going until you do, dead or alive." Kathleen stared up at him. Those two sentences were probably the most Charon had spoken to her the entire time they had been together.

"Um, thanks. Let's go." The ghoul nodded and followed her out of the ship. They headed down to the Memorial, skirting around the Super Mutants nestled on the coastline of the Potomac.

They paused as they saw more on the walkways outside of the Memorial, and Kathleen sighed.

"Nothing's ever easy, huh?" She muttered, and Charon grunted in agreement. They went in guns blazing, taking down Super Mutant after Super Mutant as they fought their way to the door of the Memorial. Although, Charon definitely did most of the work.

They paused, and took a moment to catch their breath.

"Alright, you ready?" Kathleen asked, and the ghoul only nodded and cocked his gun. The pair stormed the building, taking out what seemed like dozens of mutants.

The only injuries they suffered were a few minor scrapes and bruises, and they quietly patched each other up. They didn't say a word, but Charon could see the excitement on her face, and the way her fingers shook as she handled the bandages and gauze.

"Are you nervous?" He asked, and she chuckled.

"Of course! What am I supposed to say to him?" She sat back on her heels as she put the medical supplies away, "'Hey Dad, I got kicked out of the vault and I've been risking my life to find you.'?"

"It'll be fine." Charon shrugged.

"I'm sure you're right, I just can't help but worry." She mumbled, shouldering her backpack and cocking her gun. The two headed through the rotunda, easily taking out the two mutants that had holed up inside. Once again, it seemed like a dead-end, up until they found holotapes scattered across the counter of a device.

Kathleen listened to each one carefully for clues, and when she had finished she threw them in her bag haphazardly. She slid down against the device, sat on the floor, and buried her head in her hands.

"This is just a wild goose chase, isn't it?" She mumbled into her fingers, unwilling to move herself.

"Didn't the tapes mention Vault 112?" Charon asked, and leaned against the device next to her with his arms crossed.

"Yeah? But what if he's not there? What if there's just another clue, and another place to trek to?" Charon nodded and looked down at her.

"That could happen, or he could be there. You have to make the choice." Kathleen sat for a moment, then finally looked up at Charon with her eyes narrowed.

"You're pretty wise, huh?" The ghoul smirked, a rare show of emotion from him, and shrugged.

"That's what happens when you're alive for over two hundred years." The girl balked and stared up at him.

"You're over _two hundred_ years old? How?" Charon paused for a moment, then pushed himself off of the counter.

"We should probably head out, we never checked downstairs and more mutants could be heading up." Sensing that the story that came with his age was something he was reluctant to tell, she nodded and left the building with him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Most of us are gifted with the ability to see the monsters hidden within another, but are unable to see past them. It takes a special kind of person to see the light inside of every living being."

 **Lynette Simeone**

Kathleen's plan was to stop in Megaton for a day or two so they could restock and heal up before they made the trek to Vault 112. She was sweating like crazy when they finally reached the tall metal walls and made it inside to her house.

She explained to Charon how she deactivated the megaton bomb in the middle of town as she removed the pieces of her leather armor, only to find that her sweat had soaked through her Vault suit and into her undershirt, which had plastered itself to her skin. She scrunched her face in disgust, but with the lack of shower in her little home she figured she had to get used to being disgusting.

She helped Charon get the other room set up. He didn't mind the fact that the room was slightly smaller than hers, even though she constantly insisted on switching.

"Really, its fine." He grumbled, and set his gun down on the bed.

"You're just so much bigger than me, I feel like you need more room." She chuckled, but the ghoul just shrugged.

"I've been in smaller." Kathleen nodded, unsure of what to say. The little constant reminders of Charon's past made her uncomfortable, but maybe it wasn't the past that bothered her, but the future? Would she be just another reminder of a terrible past for some other employer? _Wait, if there's another employer that means_ I'm _dead._ She quickly pulled herself out of the mental hole she was digging for herself and stepped backwards into the doorway, stopping for a second to say something over her shoulder.

"Well, just make yourself at home. I'm gonna change and get some food made." She went into her room and closed the door behind her. There wasn't a lock, so she just levered her desk chair under the doorknob so she could change without a worry.

"What, are you afraid Mr. No Emotion's gonna walk in on ya?" She mumbled to herself as she unzipped her vault suit and pushed it down to her ankles. She gently stepped out of it and pulled a tank top and pair of cargo shorts out from a drawer in her desk.

When she was finished she headed downstairs, set her gun and holster on the right arm of the couch, and pulled two old boxes of Salisbury Steak out of the slightly cold fridge in the corner. She dumped them out into a skillet and turned up the heat on the stove. While everything warmed up she switched through the stations on her Pip-Boy until she found GNR. Cole Porter's voice, with Kathleen's echoing underneath, floated through the house, luring a curious Charon from his room.

He sat himself on the couch to clean his weapon, but his eyes continued to drift up to watch Kathleen as she swayed side to side and sang along. He wondered what allowed her to be so…carefree. How many people had he seen in his long life after the war that still sang and danced? That still held on to that almost naive innocence?

"Alright, dinner's ready!" She yelled at him from the kitchen, shaking him from his thoughts. She sat next to him on the couch and handed the ghoul a plate. However, the ghoul wasn't entirely sure that whatever was in the plate was edible.

"What…is this?"

"Salisbury Steak! I find them when I'm out and about, and cook 'em up."

"Wait, you eat that stuff?" He stared at her, and she sheepishly balanced the plate on the arm of the couch.

"Uh, yeah? Don't all of you?"

"No. People hunt out here. Those boxes are centuries old, they'll probably kill you." Kathleen nodded and silently took their plates and dropped them into the trash, looking defeated.

"Welp. We can go up to Moriarty's and see if he sells any food. We can see Gob while we're there too."

"Gob lives here?" The ghoul asked, and Kathleen nodded. Charon watched as she put her pistol in her holster and strapped it to her waist. He knew Gob from when he lived in Underworld, but hadn't interacted with the ghoul very much. Standing in a corner for decades and only leaving to kick out drunks didn't really leave room for socializing.

"Yup, he's…he's kind of Moriarty's slave." She whispered the last word, as though she wasn't sure how loud she was able to say it, "We're friends though, and he gives me a discount whenever Moriarty's sleeping away a hangover. Which is almost every day." She snorted, and the two headed out across the bridges and walkways until they reached the bar.

Moriarty stood outside, leaned against the railing with a cigarette hanging from his lips. He narrowed his eyes at the two as they passed by.

"Well, welcome back to Megaton, girly. You find your father?"

"No, not yet. I'm still searching, though." He shrugged, took a drag on his cigarette, and went back to staring out over the town.

When they entered the bar Gob greeted Kathleen warmly, setting her up with a Nuka-Cola, and Charon with nothing. The ghoul refused any of Gob's offers, and instead just stood off to the side so he could watch the other patrons.

Gob and Kathleen continued to catch up, laughing at Gob's stories about a drunk Moriarty, and the bar went silent to listen to Kathleen's near death experiences, which she told with dramatic fervor. Moriarty walking through the door quenched their enthusiasm, and Kathleen whispered a silent goodbye to the ghoul and left. Moriarty didn't like the two getting along, and was often worse to Gob when she was in the building. She motioned for Charon to leave, and she gave Gob one last look before she closed the door behind her.

"God, I hate him." She whispered, letting her anger get the best of her as she kicked the railing Moriarty loved so damn much. "Oh, darn it."

"What?"

"We forgot to eat!" Kathleen exclaimed, rolling her eyes at her own forgetfulness as they headed all the way down to the Brass Lantern. She greeted Jenny and ordered herself a cup of noodles, then turned to Charon. The ghoul fumbled for an answer.

"The noodles." He finally muttered. Kathleen wondered what made such a simple choice so hard for him, but decided it was one of the many 'Mysteries of Charon', and let it go. For the moment, of course.

They ate their noodles in relative silence until Jericho took the seat next to her and leaned uncomfortably close. She could smell the whiskey on his breath, and scooted closer to Charon in disgust.

"Who's your new friend?"

"Charon. He's my bodyguard." Jericho snickered and scooted closer. Kathleen bumping into Charon as she tried to get away from the man caused the ghoul to stand, hoping merely that his own height would intimidate the drunk enough to get him to leave. Jericho only laughed.

"If you were lookin' for a little _something-something_ you shoulda just told me. That way you wouldn't've become a filthy _corpse fucker_." He spat the words, and Kathleen noticed that no one tried to help, even though a couple of people were definitely within earshot. The only one who did anything was Charon, who finally grabbed Jericho by the shoulders and pushed him away, knocking him out of his stool. The man landed on the ground with a groan, and quickly pulled his pistol from its holster, only to find that Charon already had his shotgun pressed against his temple. Kathleen saw the ghoul's finger twitch on the trigger, and had to do something.

"Charon, wait!" The ghoul didn't take his eyes off of Jericho, but she saw his eyes flick to her for just a second, then back to the drunk.

"Ma'am?"

"Just let him go, please."

"Yes, ma'am." She hated the way the ghoul shut down at her orders, his voice taking on the same blankness it had when she had first spoken with him days ago. Nevertheless, he lowered his gun and stepped back, his focus switching to Kathleen. She could see his eyes examining her, searching for any damage, then they turned back to Jericho.

"Go home, Jericho, and sleep it off." Kathleen grumbled, and turned to leave. The ex-raider stood up and dusted himself off.

"Fucking vault asshole." She heard him mutter as he walked away and she headed back up to her house. When they finally made it inside she threw herself on the couch. Charon set his shotgun next to the door and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.

They sat in silence for a minute, and she could feel the anger resonating off of him. Finally, she sighed and sat up, tucking her knees under her chin and looking up at the ghoul.

"I couldn't let you kill him. He's just a drunk, he wouldn't have said those things sober." She paused, "Well, he would've said something but nothing that mean."

The ghoul shrugged and grabbed his shotgun.

"May I be dismissed?" He asked.

"You don't have to ask that. Just go do your own thing." He froze for a moment, then nodded and took his shotgun with him up the stairs. Kathleen quickly got up and stood at the bottom of the steps, and yelled up, "By the way! We're leaving tomorrow morning!"

She didn't get a reply, but she figured he heard and decided to lounge about on the couch. She set her Pip-Boy to Galaxy News, and ended up dozing off to 'Let's Go Sunning'.

* * *

Charon sat down on the bed, _his_ bed, and stared at the far wall. He could hear music drifting up from down the stairs, and closed the door, effectively muffling it. So far, things were okay, and that fact scared the shit out of the ghoul. Things were _never_ okay, not with employers, and not with Vault dwellers. They always came out of those underground hellholes as batshit lunatics, and he wondered what made her different. She had told him a few things, like how her Vault was relatively normal, though it did had a dwindling population to worry about, so maybe that was it. Maybe it was just that she came from somewhere normal?

 _Thinking about this shit doesn't help anyone_. He told himself, methodically pulling his shotgun apart and cleaning the individual pieces with a dirty rag. _Just do your job._


	4. Chapter 4

_"Later that night I held an atlas in my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered, "Where does it hurt?"_ It answered _,_ " _Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere._ "

 **Warsan Shire**

The next morning Kathleen woke up, her mouth like cotton, and dried flakes of spit dried to her cheek. She rubbed it away and dug her fingers into her eyes to wake herself up, then she slipped off of the couch and leaned over the kitchen sink. Thankfully, it had running water, and she was able to splash some of it, though it was lukewarm at best, on her face.

Kathleen stretched, headed upstairs, and jumped when she saw Charon already leaning in the doorway.

"God, you scared the shit out of me!" She exclaimed, leaning against the railing to give her heart a chance to stop beating so fast. She thought she caught a smirk at the edges of the ghoul's lips, but she could've been mistaken.

"You did say we were leaving in the morning." He pointed out, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I know." She looked down at her Pip-Boy and sighed. It was already almost noon. "I dozed off and forgot to set an alarm." She grumbled to herself, hurrying into her room to throw on her armor and get herself ready. When she was done, the two quietly sat on the couch downstairs and took stock of their supplies. They only had a couple frag grenades left, two cases of ammo (one for each of their weapons), three Stimpacks, one bottle of Rad-X, and one bag of Rad-Away.

They loaded their guns and headed out, Kathleen waving to Moira as they passed her on the ramps. When they walked by Nathan Vargas he gave the two a disgusted look and muttered something about how "things will get better when the Enclave get here". She only gritted her teeth and stared straight ahead, her face hot.

When they finally made it out of Megaton Kathleen sighed and turned to Charon, her hands on her hips.

"Why do they hate you?" The ghoul seemed taken aback by the question, but quickly regained his composure, scanned the horizon, and shrugged.

"I'm a ghoul." He stated, as though that was a perfect answer to her question.

"So?"

"People don't like ghouls. We go feral, and they're scared of that."

"That's stupid." She muttered, and he shrugged.

"That's just how it is."

Kathleen frowned, and they continued on through the wasteland. They stopped for breaks occasionally, trying to keep themselves hydrated in the hot, sweltering sun. They barely talked, but she still enjoyed the companionship. She knew that if she had decided to do this alone, she'd probably start talking to herself.

When the sun started to set they decided to bed down for the night in an abandoned house. Charon broke apart an old chair for wood and got a small fire going in living room's chimney. Kathleen laid out on the dilapidated couch, pieces of her armor already thrown into a corner.

"You hungry?" He asked, and she nodded," I'll go see if I can find a molerat, or something."

"Is that what you all eat out here, then? Molerats and noodles?" The ghoul shrugged.

"Something like that. I won't be gone long, and I won't be far. Keep your weapon loaded."

"Okay, _Dad_." The ghoul smirked, but fixed himself right as she caught it. He grabbed his gun and closed the door behind him, leaving her alone in the old house.

She sighed, set her pistol on the nearby coffee table, and tossed about on the couch until she was comfortable. After a few moments she was slumped against the arm, her mouth hanging open and her arm dangling off of the side.

* * *

After ten minutes passed the main door creaked open, and the faint light from the fireplace slunk out into the dark world outside of the house. Feet appeared in the light: hunting boots that were scuffed, torn, and still stained with old blood. The feet moved on into the house, revealing more and more of the mysterious figure: a man with a shaved head, a scar on his cheek, and a shotgun strapped to his back.

The man quietly creeped through the living room and up to the couch, and quickly placed his hand on Kathleen's mouth. Her eyes burst open, and she tried to scream, but the man's hands effectively silenced her.

She lashed out, scraping his face with her nails and causing him to let go. He stumbled back, accidentally giving her enough time to scramble for a weapon. Without looking she went for her gun, but accidentally grabbed the old table lamp instead. She decided to go with it and swung, hitting the man in the arm.

Kathleen jumped off of the couch and ran, only to be grabbed from behind and pulled backwards, slipping and hitting the ground. Her head smacked against the old wood floor and she groaned, her world refusing to stop spinning as she felt her wrists being tied together.

"No!" Charon's voice rang out in the old house, and Kathleen looked up to see the ghoul aiming his weapon at the man. She heard a gunshot, but the man hoisted her over his shoulder, and she only had time to see Charon fall forward and hit the ground.

"Shit, it's about time you got here." The man carrying her said. The other one stepped out of the shadows and shrugged, running his hands through his short hair.

"I lost sight of the ghoul then tracked him back here. That should keep him down though. You want this molerat he had?" He said, and kicked Charon in the side. The ghoul groaned, and muttered Kathleen's name. She screamed and kicked until the other man forced a piece of fabric between her lips. She almost puked as the fabric rubbed against her tongue.

"Nah, let's just get out of here."

They left him there and walked on through the dark for what felt like hours until they reached a giant crater in the middle of the wastes. She could see lights beaming out into the night sky, and could hear voices. The two walked with her through a path between two walls of rock, and she could see train cars. The man carrying her pushed away other raiders that attempted to crowd around them.

"Get away, you animals. She's for Madame." He growled as he carried her through a building at the bottom of the crater. He carried her down some steps and into what looked like a cave. From there she was brought up a ramp and into another building, and as the man carried her through to a room in the back she could see women strewn across old couches and chairs. They watched her as she was carried by.

The man finally set her down on her feet in a large room and untied her hands. She ripped the gag from her mouth and threw it at him, but the man only chuckled and walked away. Kathleen turned to see an older woman sitting on an old recliner, who leaned forward and grinned. Her head was shaved on one side, and her hair had been dyed pink.

"This is the girl your scouts saw?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Where is her companion?"

"Dead." The raider said, and the words hit her like a punch to the stomach.

Kathleen clenched her teeth as the woman slid off of her chair and approached her. She grabbed her chin and dug her fingers into her cheeks; tilting her head up, turning her face left and right, examining her. She ran her finger across her lips then pulled them apart, squinting at her teeth.

"So white." She whispered," And she has all of them. You're from a Vault, aren't you, girl?"

Kathleen didn't say a word, but let out a yelp when the woman pulled her fingers out of her mouth and slapped her across the face.

"You will speak when I ask you a question. Now, where are you from?" Kathleen clenched her teeth and stayed silent. She received another slap, this one caused her to bite her tongue, and she felt a flush of hot copper. She spit the blood out on the floor and sighed.

"A vault." She muttered and the woman smiled, caressing her cheek.

"There we go. Isn't it just _so_ much easier when you just listen to me? You." She motioned for the raider to come back," Introduce her to the other girls. They'll show her the ropes."

The raider nodded, grabbed Kathleen by the arm and started leading her away. Before they could get through the door Madame cleared her throat to get their attention.

"You belong to Madame now, child. Learning your place now will make the road ahead so much smoother."

* * *

 _I took a little bit of creative liberty with the brothel in Evergreen Mills. One room with two cells isn't very interesting, now is it?_


	5. Chapter 5

_There is a hidden blessing in knowing something will end before it has even begun._

 _It is in the way cut flowers are doomed to die but they still light up a room just the same._

 _It is the reason we embark upon a journey when we know that eventually, we must always return home._

 _It is a bitter-sweet truth that our life experiences have deeper meaning and are profoundly more beautiful when we know they will not last."_

 **Ranata Suzuki**

 _Hours earlier…_

Charon could do nothing as the two raiders carried Kathleen off into the night. He tried to pick himself up again and again, only to fall back onto the dirty floor every time. He could feel hot blood soaking into his undershirt and pooling on the floor around him as he tried to pick himself up one more time. He grabbed the doorframe to steady himself as he bit back a yell and took a shaky step forward.

The pain felt like someone had stabbed Charon in the back, but thanks to his ghoulification and the ever constant background-radiation, he was able to stay conscious long enough to make it to Kathleen's backpack. He grabbed a strap, but fell against the couch, accidentally throwing the bag to the floor and scattering its contents. Bottles of dirty and purified water rolled out, and an old Vault-Tec Lunchbox clattered onto the hardwood.

"Damnit." He gasped, sliding to the floor and grabbing one of the dirty water bottles. He fumbled with the cap until he finally popped it off and chugged it, feeling the slight warmth of the radiation washing over him gently. He threw the empty bottle to the side and grabbed the lunchbox. Inside was a pack of gauze, medical tape, Med-X, and Stimpacks. He grabbed a Stimpack, pulled the cap off of the needle, and injected it into his side. The mix of radiation and medication was already helping knit his patchy skin back together, and he used Med-X next to dull the pain so that he could get to work.

Charon pulled his ruined shirt and armor off, and winced as he pulled the fabric from the raw flesh. He gauzed and taped up his wounds and put his ruined armor back on, gathered their supplies, and quietly took stock of their weapons. As he did so his thoughts continued to bother him, overwhelmed with a sense of worry, and failure. _I let my guard down, forgot she was a child. Thought she could handle things herself. Stupid._

He didn't need to track the raiders to know where they had gone: Evergreen Mills, the closest raider camp in the area. He slung the backpack across his back, winced as the pack bounced against his wounds, and set out. It was a couple hours before he saw the giant hole in the ground, and the lights that cut into the inky blackness of the night. He crouched behind a large rock and watched for another hour. The guards rotated while he waited, and he noticed the sniper rifle slung across the back of one of the raiders. _I can do a lot of damage with one of those._

He left the backpack behind the rock and took only his combat knife with him. He snuck out to the edge of the camp, making sure to stay in the dark. The sniper switched out again, but took his rifle with him. As he made his way across the containers, alone, Charon struck. He clamped his hand over the man's mouth and dragged him off and away from the camp. The man went for the knife in his boot but Charon already had his against the man's throat. He put as much pressure as he could against the man's skin and pulled the serrated blade across. Blood bubbled up from the gaping wound, and the man stared up at Charon with wide blue eyes, his fingers helplessly scrabbling against the ghoul's hand until he finally went still.

Charon wiped his hands and the blade of the knife off on his pants, and dragged the man farther away, and behind an outcropping of rocks and debris. He pulled the rife from the body and checked the pockets for ammo. He had a full clip already in the gun, but only ten extra bullets in his pockets. The ghoul sighed, and looked around. The highest place was a nearby cliff, so he went back for the backpack and hiked up the hill to the edge of the rocks, and over Evergreen Mills.

He set himself up there and peered down into the camp through the scope. At first, he didn't see any sign of Kathleen, until he saw the raider that took her. He recognized the scar. The man laughed with the others, and Charon fumed. He felt himself grow hot, and infuriated, and had to resist the urge to put a well-aimed bullet in the man's skull. It wasn't time, not yet, at least. Instead he watched as raiders came in and out of the foundry. He moved his sight to the middle of the area and sighed.

A Super Mutant Behemoth stood in the middle of tall electric fences. He followed the wire that powered the fence to a generator a few yards away, and pursed his lips, thinking. _I can shoot the generator. Disable it, but then I'll have a Behemoth to deal with._ _Or, I let the raiders kill it, then pick off whoever's left._

He decided to wait until sunrise before taking action, and instead watched the inhabitants of the camp for hours. A slave pen sat off to the side, and he realized from all of the men coming in and out of the foundry, that something important had to be there; maybe Kathleen? He decided that when he finally came down from his perch, that would be his first target.

When he saw the sun finally creep up over the wasteland's horizon, he put his plan into action.

Charon first started with the generator, a few well-placed shots causing it to sputter, spark, and then die. The nearby raiders scrambled to fix it, but it was too late. The Behemoth quickly figured out that the fence wasn't powered anymore, and tore it down. The beast didn't have a weapon, but did more than enough damage with its bare hands. Charon used the chaos to quickly take out several raiders, and he could see the panic on their faces as they realized that they had two deadly enemies to fight.

The raiders worked hard to take down the Behemoth, but when they finally did their numbers had gone down significantly. The leftover raiders checked the bodies of their comrades, and Charon suspected that they'd find numerous headshots and would realize there was a sniper in the cliffs. He took this as his cue to leave, and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He loaded the clip in his combat shotgun and headed down to the entrance to Evergreen Mills.

From there he proceeded to take out the rest of his enemies with a combination of his shotgun and his knife. The quick movements of dodging bullets and fists tore open his slowly healing wounds, and he could feel hot blood on his back, but he kept going towards the foundry until he found the scarred raider that had taken Kathleen. It was pure luck that the man hadn't been a casualty of the Behemoth's slaughter.

Charon caught the raider by surprise, punched him in the throat, and pushed him up against a wall. The raider looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"I-I thought we killed you. I thought you were dead." He stuttered, his wide eyes crinkling the scar across his face.

"I'm hard to kill." Charon growled as he pushed the barrel of his shotgun into the man's gut," Where did you take her?" He looked around at his dead comrades and back at Charon.

"In the foundry, there's a cave system and a brothel. That's where she is." Charon felt his face grow hot, and he could hear his blood pounding in his ears.

"A ibrothel/i? You took that girl to a ifucking/i brothel!?" He let his anger get the better of him for the second time since he had met Kathleen, and pulled the trigger again, and again, and again, then let him go. The body crumpled to the ground, and Charon shot him one last time in the face, obliterating anything that could tell him apart from the other corpses.

He gave it one last kick and moved on and into the foundry. He climbed the steps down into the bazaar, where a few raiders laid in wait for him, but they weren't hard to take care of. He pulled his gun on a man behind a counter, who threw his hands up in surrender.

"Hey man, don't worry 'bout me. I ain't gonna do nothin'." He said, giving Charon an anxious smile.

"Where's the brothel?" Charon asked, and the man pointed back out into the cave.

"Just, uh, out there. You go up a ramp." The ghoul gave him one last long look, then moved on. Just as he found the ramp, a brown and red bolt slid down it quick, smacking into the ghoul and taking him to the ground. He moved, ready to kill whoever it was, but the arms wrapping around his neck, and the curls tickling the underside of his chin stopped him.

He looked down, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of the girl, but it was cut short when he realized she was covered in blood. It soaked the front of the ratty dress she was wearing, and was splattered across her face and arms. He looked up, trying to get an idea of what happened, when he saw a few women, carefully making their way down the ramp. Their eyes were wide against their thin faces, and were dressed in dirty, torn up dresses. He gently picked Kathleen, and set her on her feet. He put his hands on her shoulders, holding her at arm's length, and examined her. She seemed unscathed except for a few scratches and bruises, but he worried about the blood.

"The blood, is it…?"

"Not mine." She whispered, unblinking.

"What the hell happened in there?" Charon asked, and Kathleen sighed, but her eyes didn't leave the hole in the cave. That was when he saw the bruises on her neck. Quietly his fingers brushed against them, and she flinched, pulling away from him. His eyes widened and his blood boiled, but she grabbed his arm and squeezed.

"He's dead." She reassured him, and looked behind him at the bodies that littered the bazaar.

"They're all dead." Charon informed her, and she nodded. Her eyes grew hard, and when she spoke there was an edge to her voice that he'd never heard before.

"iGood/i"


End file.
